CavePeople Book Club - "Breakneck" by Dan Wang

Ladies invited. 288 pages.

This is a dinner potluck. We are talking trout.

# Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future by Dan Wang

One of The New Yorker's Best Books of the Year • One of NPR's "Books We Love" of 2025 • A Financial Times Best Book of the Year • An August 2025 Next Big Idea Club Must-Read Book • One of Bookbub's Best Nonfiction of 2025 • A China Books Review Best Book of 2025 • An Inc. Best Business Book of 2025

There is something about Wang's writing that is so crisp and fresh.

For nearly a decade, technology analyst Dan Wang—“a gifted observer of contemporary China” (Ross Douthat)—has watched China’s astonishing, chaotic transformation up close.

China’s towering bridges, gleaming railways, and sprawling factories have improved economic outcomes in record time. But rapid change has also sent ripples of pain throughout the society. This reality―political repression and astonishing growth―is not a paradox, but rather a feature of China’s engineering mindset.

In Breakneck, Wang weaves political, economic, and philosophical reflection together with on‑the‑ground reporting to offer a fresh way of understanding China—and, by contrast, the United States. Where China behaves like an engineering state, single‑mindedly driving forward megaprojects, the U.S. has become, in his telling, a highly legalistic society that instinctively slows or blocks new projects, whether beneficial or harmful.

Mancave Books Read Previously

2017
Disgrace by Coetzee F
The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway F
The Harder They Come by Boyle F
Blood Meridian by McCarthy F

2018
Where Men Win Glory by Krakauer NF
Sea Wolf by London F
Line Becomes a River by Cantu NF
Elephant Company by Croke NF
A Gentleman in Moscow by Towles F

2019
Blowing Up Rachel by Stevens NF
The Most Dangerous Man in America by Minutaglio NF
AI Superpowers by Lee NF
Anne Frank: The Untold Story by Wijk NF
Narcissus and Goldmund by Hesse F
A Case of Need by Crichton F
Johnstown Flood by McCullough NF

2020
Kinds of Winter by Olesen NF
Jayber Crowe by Berry F
Flamenco Academy by Bird F
The Emerald Mile by Fedarko NF
Desert Solitaire by Abbey F
Horseman Passby by McMurtry F
Truck by Perry NF
West with the Night by Markham NF
Flags of Our Fathers by Bradley NF

2021
The Fifth Season F
China in 10 Words NF
The 7th Day F
2034 F
This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends NF
Bad Monkey F
Noah's Compass F
Open Season F
The Razor's Edge F

2022
Julian F
Of Wolves and Men NF
The Land of Little Rain NF
Arizona's Deadliest Gunfight NF

2025
Why Nations Succeed and Fail NF
My Brilliant Friend F
Neuromancer F

2026
About Grace F